Nwabisa Konjwayo, a laboratory technician at Afrikelp, shares her experiences.

Shelf-life testing is a suite of tests that include sensory, microbial, and chemical analyses of products. The term “shelf-life” itself tells us the longevity of a product when stored. Specific storage conditions are put in place when conducting shelf-life testing. Accelerated shelf-life testing is conducted through induced time or favourable temperatures and storage conditions. The required temperature for accelerated shelf-life testing is set at 40 °C using the spread plate method to isolate both bacteria and fungi. Conducting this test at 40 °C allows us to achieve a two-year shelf life study. In the test, one week of storage is equivalent to one month of shelf life whereas a test continuing for a period of 6 months will ensure us a shelf life of two years, respectively. All Afrikelp’s products are screened through this shelf-life test to ensure our levels of quality are consistent and maintained and to ensure that we deliver what we promise.